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Tag Archives: cheap homemade bug spray

If you’re like us, you don’t enjoy sharing living space with uninvited small flying creatures that make their way inside your home. Flies, mosquitoes, wasps…you name it…they’re no fun inside the house!

I discovered this do-it-yourself, cheap and VERY effective bug spray years ago. I always keep a bottle of straight rubbing alcohol (70%) in my bathroom near the tub to spray tile grout after a shower. One day a fly made its way into the bathroom. I grabbed the alcohol bottle and sprayed the fly. It dropped dead in no time! Really! It was the fastest, most effective bug killer I ever found!

We have tried this on fruit flies, wasps, flies, and mosquitoes. It literally has killed any insect we’ve ever sprayed with it! So…for a cheap, really effective do-it-yourself bug spray, just find an empty spray bottle and fill it with 70% rubbing alcohol. Do not dilute the alcohol. Use a quick spray or two on any unwanted insect in the house and you’ll quickly be rid of it.

ONE WORD OF CAUTION: Be mindful of what you’re spraying the alcohol on in your house (other than the bug). Rubbing alcohol WILL TEMPORARILY soften paint. If you do spray some on paint, such as on a fly in a window, simply do not touch the paint with anything until the alcohol dries out (this includes leaving the dead fly alone). This won’t take long at all as alcohol dries quickly. Once the alcohol dries out and the paint hardens back up (usually in less than a minute), you can pick up the dead bug.

Also, be careful about spraying this over finished wood furniture. Some finishes might be damaged, if only temporarily, by the alcohol. If in doubt, test a very small area with the alcohol in an inconspicuous area before spraying any bug that lands on your fine furniture. Otherwise, just wave the insect away from the furniture and spray it in flight or when it lands on something that can safely be sprayed.